Page 41 - PCPA Winter 2023 Bulletin Magazine

41
WINTER 2023 BULLETIN
LEXIPOL | WHAT TO EXPECT AFTER A CRITICAL INCIDENT IN LAW ENFORCEMENT
of information as units responded from all over town. With
the cavalry summoned, our family in blue responded in
force. Even from inside the police building, I could hear
sirens wailing throughout the city.
Taking Command
While my lieutenant rushed out the door, I had the
thought that the two or three dispatchers working in our
communications center would be overwhelmed. Rather
than rushing to the scene, I decided to embed myself in
dispatch to establish a temporary command. From there, I
could coordinate a perimeter and logistics for a command
post near the scene.
I rushed into the communications center to discover an
environment of panic and stress. The dispatchers were
indeed overwhelmed with responding units, offers of
assistance from other agencies, and medical staging for
our downed officer, who was still held in place by gunfire.
The suspect broke cover before anyone could secure
the neighborhood. We had cars and citizens out and
about as the bad guy hopped fences and bullets whizzed
through the air. In the ensuing chaos, the suspect forced
his way into an occupied home containing a husband
and wife, along with their 10-month-old baby. While the
family barricaded themselves in a bedroom and begged
our dispatcher for help, we transitioned into an evolving
hostage scenario.
As the regional team leader, and having been a negotiator
for 14 years, I took the emergency call from the distraught
husband. As I spoke to the terrified man, I could hear the
suspect trying to smash his way into the bedroom where
the little family was holed up. It took just a few minutes to
coax the hostages (and their dog) out of the ground floor
window, where they were helped by waiting officers. That
left the suspect alone in the house — now surrounded by
a massive police presence.
Transitioning to the Scene
Taking advantage of a lull in the action, I left the safety
of the communications facility to get to the scene and
establish a negotiations operations center (NOC). We
still didn’t have any way of talking to the suspect. It was
my job to get that problem remedied with the help of our
special operations team and a robot.
As I worked to arrange for a surrender, the hunkered-
down suspect took a pot shot at one of my coworkers, a
member of the SWAT team who was standing by on one
side of the residence. Somehow, the man managed to hit
this officer in the head.
We now had two officers down. I still had a job to do,
but honestly, I wasn’t sure I could manage it. All I could
think of was, “Why would I even want to arrange for this
vile person’s safe surrender? He just shot my friend in the
head!”
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